Ghana’s telecoms regulator has ordered mobile operator MTN Ghana, formerly ScanCom Ltd, to stop selling SIM cards, amid a spat involving allegations of poor quality of service.

Ghana’s National Communications Authority (NCA) alleges that MTN mobile subscribers in the country experience issues such as poor network coverage and dropped calls.

The West African country has six competing operators, including the likes of MTN, Vodafone, Millicom (Tigo) and Zain which was taken over by Bharti Airtel of India in 2010.

And over 90% of the country’s almost 25 million people own a SIM card, according to BuddeComm research.

The Ghana News Agency (GNA), in turn, says that MTN has more than 11 million subscribers

“In spite of these engagements, network performance on MTN continues to deteriorate,” a press statement from the NCA has read.

“Consequently, the NCA has directed Scancom Ltd to, with immediate effect, (to) cease selling and/or adding any new SIM cards/subscribers to MTN network until further notice”.